The mother of a 16-year-old girl who survived a fatal Darwin car crash — which police described as "horrendous" — has reminded parents to cherish every moment with their children.

It was barely 5.30am on a Monday morning when Darwin mother Gail woke up to Northern Territory police officers knocking at her front door.

"The police informed us that our daughter was in hospital and she had been involved in a serious car accident," Gail told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

The mother-of-three thought her 16-year-old daughter was still asleep in bed.

I did not know when I went to bed that Sunday night that I might not have seen her again. I urge parents to say every day that you love your children because you don't know when it is going to be their last day

Darwin mother Gail

"She snuck out. We were asleep," Gail said.

"We did not know anything until the knock at the door."

Gail and her husband rushed to Darwin Hospital to find their daughter covered in blood.

The teenager's 18-year-old friend and fellow passenger, Ashley Richards, was in a critical condition. He later died in hospital.

NT police alleged Mr Richards died after the car's driver ran a red light and collided with a four-wheel drive at 180 kilometres an hour in the early hours of September 7.

The crash at the corner of Lambrick Avenue and the Stuart Highway scattered wreckage for hundreds of metres.

Police described the scene as "horrendous".

The driver of the allegedly stolen sedan has since been charged over the crash and a string of alleged crimes.

Moscow's words and actions — including the alleged poisoning of a former spy — are not the results of random aggression but rather fall into distinct patterns that can help us anticipate Russia's next moves under Vladimir Putin.